I always believe in having goals regardless of what I pursue. Since I started running about two years ago, I harboured a wish to complete the world marathon majors - Tokyo (my first marathon, 2015), New York City (will be running it in November 2016), London (hoping to win the ballot to run in 2017), Berlin (planning for 2017), Chicago (planning for 2018) and Boston (hopefully I can qualify in 10 years’ time!).
With running being a key part of my lifestyle now, it is inevitable that it eventually gets intertwined with my wanderlust. The lovechild is what I termed ‘destination running’, which is essentially 'travel to run, run to travel'.
What better way to get to know a city than running 42km of it? In fact, I recently came back from Gold Coast, having completed my second marathon. The Gold Coast Airport Marathon (GCAM for short) is one favoured by many Singaporeans for its flat terrain and good weather conditions for achieving PB (personal best) and BQ (Boston qualifier) times. I did get my PB and shaved 34 minutes off my first marathon timing.
One of the biggest misconceptions is that the GCAM starts or ends at the airport. We were never near the airport. The “airport” word was part of the title because it used to be the official sponsor. What’s unique about this marathon is that you get to run past the famous Surfer’s Paradise and along the other key beaches along the coast line. The spectators were awesome, with kids waiting to high-five the runners and some holding motivational signage to keep us running.
Some of the key memories from GCAM are:
- A spectator holding a signage that said “You are running better than the government”. I literally burst out laughing when I saw this at the about the 30km mark.
- Some spectators offered runners ice cubes when the sun got too sweltering after the 30km mark. That was a great life saver as my body tends to overheat.
- At about the 40km mark, there were “motivators" (appointed by the race organiser) to cheer the runners on. They gave out cups of ice cold Coke and that really give me a burst of energy. I shouted out “The best Coke ever” while giving them the thumbs up as a way of thanking them!
- Most races have water stations but Gold Coast was one up with sunblock stations. I was not lying when I said the sun was more intense than in Singapore. It started out cold and cool, but the temperature gradually built up when the sun came out in full force.
- Getting to the Start line and back to hotel from Finish line was fuss free. There was free transport provided via G:link light rail service for all runners!
GCAM’s tagline is “Come for the run, stay for the fun” and it was indeed a fun place for an adventurous traveller. The other two big highlights for me besides running the full marathon were doing the SkyPoint Climb (Australia’s highest external building climb) and sky diving.
If you ever head over to Gold Coast, I would really recommend doing the SkyPoint climb so you can get an unparalleled panoramic view of the city, as well as tandem skydiving in which you take off at the international airport amidst the passenger jets and freefall at the drop point before parachuting and landing at Kirra beach. My GCAM experience was truly unforgettable.
My next destination marathon will be TCS New York City Marathon that will be happening on 6 November and I will be running through the five boroughs of the Big Apple. I will definitely report back with the highlights of this world major!
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